Many ready-to-eat cereals have been developed and sold in recent years. These cereals all have different types of additives which provide for prevention of staling and prevention of oxidation, as well as preservation of the product. Few cereals have been developed which are substantially free of these additives and preservatives. Likewise, few cereals have been developed which have not been subjected to substantial types of processing which significantly alters the product. The few ready-to-eat cereal products that have been developed which are prepared from natural ingredients and are subjected to minimal processing are desirable products. In addition, these ready-to-eat cereal products would be even more desirable if they contained reduced fat levels.
However, in such cereals, fat is typically added in the form of oil, which serves to keep the cereal product tender and helps to extend the cereal's bowl life in milk. When the oil is not added, or is replaced with water and sugar syrup, the resulting cereal becomes extremely hard and brittle and is not accepted as well by consumers. In the present invention, however, when the water-soluble dietary fiber of the present invention is added to such cereal products as a replacement for such oils, it has been surprisingly found that a reduced fat, ready-to-eat cereal product, preferably prepared from natural ingredients, can be prepared without any of the aforementioned undesirable effects.